Weekly News Digest #1
# of announced deals
4
announced deals’ size
$122m
# of closed deals
3
Hi everyone,
Welcome to the first InvestGame Weekly Digest of 2025. We hope you had a great Holiday season, and wish you a wonderful year ahead!
We are currently working hard on the upcoming 2024 Global Gaming Deals Report, so please stay tuned.
In the meantime, don’t miss the “Notable Transactions” section below for a roundup of the last two weeks’ notable deals.
We thank MY.GAMES and Xsolla for supporting this digest.
| NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS |
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
US-based mobile gaming company Scopely has acquired China-based games developer Chengfeng Studio from Perfect World for $34.5m. The acquisition is part of Scopely’s broader expansion strategy in China and its more extensive acquisition plans for 2025. As part of the deal, most of Chengfeng Studio’s team will depart and establish a new entity in which Scopely will hold a minority stake. The acquisition includes assets and documentation of Chengfeng’s title, Codename PIE.
US-based games publisher Maximum Entertainment has announced the divestment of IPs and assets from UK-based PC & Console games developer Merge Games to Silver Lining Interactive, a UK-based publisher owned by the founders of Merge Games. As part of the transaction, Maximum Entertainment will receive $1.05m (€1m) in proceeds, along with an additional stock royalty estimated at $142k (€135k), payable over six months. Additionally, the owners of Silver Lining Interactive have agreed to release Maximum Entertainment from any outstanding claims and earn-outs related to Merge Games, valued at $2.45m (€2.33m), as well as other liabilities estimated at $525k (€500k). This divestment follows the merger of Merge Games into Maximum Entertainment. The deal includes 90 titles, such as Spirit of the North. However, Merge Games will retain the rights to several key titles, including Smalland: Survive the Wilds, Bramble: The Mountain King, Pixelshire, Morbid: The Lords of Ire, and Sunnyside. This transaction comes after Merge Games laid off nearly its entire staff and closed the studio.
South Korea-based mobile games developer DoubleU Games has acquired a 60% stake in Turkey-based mobile games developer Paxie Games for a total consideration of $67m. The deal includes an upfront payment of $27m and a $40m earn-out consideration based on Paxie Games’ performance. The whole deal will be financed through a combination of treasury shares and cash. The transaction is expected to close in Q1’25. DoubleU Games has an option to acquire the remaining 40% of Paxie Games over the next three years, subject to the achievement of specific financial targets. Before the acquisition, Paxie Games had cumulatively raised $4m across two funding rounds. This acquisition is part of DoubleU Games’ strategy to enter the Merge-2 market. Paxie Games specializes in casual mobile games and develops a Merge-2 title, Merge Studio: Fashion Makeover.
VENTURE FINANCING
Web3 gaming company Unreal Kingdoms has raised $15.8m in a funding round backed by its founders. The funds will be used to advance the development of the company’s platform. As part of this investment, Unreal Kingdoms partnered with HC Hogz and Hostile Crypto to create its metaverse ecosystem.
